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I was reading a review in the online edition of a US magazine of a work of fiction published in the UK. To my surprise the reviewer seemed unfamiliar with the term "garden fork" and tentatively glossed it as pitchfork.
To me a garden fork is a smaller implement with 3 tines, used for digging in the garden, while a pitchfork is larger, may have more tines, and is used for pitching hay or whatever onto wagons at harvest time. Any comments from other parts of the English-speaking world?
Bingley
Bingley
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In reply to:
To me a garden fork is a smaller implement with 3 tines, used for digging in the garden, while a pitchfork is larger, may have more tines, and is used for pitching hay or whatever onto wagons at harvest time.
That's basically a ditto from here in Zild.
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Carpal Tunnel
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while I would basically agree with you, I think that the terms are fairly interchangeable here in the US. garden fork sounds pretty pretentious, though it shouldn't.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Pooh-Bah
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I grew up knowing digging forks as 'pitchforks,' and puzzled over it many young years. I think it was reading of 'garden forks' in something British that was my Eureka moment. Adding to the confusion, since pitch was more likely to mean 'tar' to me than 'to throw,' I couldn't understand why people were always landing on pitchforks in hay stacks.
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Carpal Tunnel
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when i had a house and garden, i had a pitch fork, (heavy wire like tines) and a garden fork, (flat 1 inch wide or so tines. (both had 4 or 5 total).
the pitch fork was for pitching (ie, throwing) light weight material (e.g. piles of leaves into the compost pile) someplace.
the garden form is for digging into soil. (i had raised beds, and they got turned gently in the fall with a garden fork. they also can be used to dig potatoes.)
i think anyone who garden's knows the difference.
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Carpal Tunnel
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There's also a D-handle fork which is a step down from a pitch fork.
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So they could say, "These are the tines that try men's soles."
TEd
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But if they were polite, they wouldn't.
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Pooh-Bah
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A pitchfork, to me, has two tines with outward bent tips. It was originally used (and, NO, I haven't looked this up) for pitching hay onto ricks. It would typically have quite a long handle, and be perhaps five feet long. A garden fork to me is pretty much as Helen, she of the fork that pitched a thousand chips, describes.
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A little research seems to indicate that the thang I called a D-handle fork is also known as a garden fork, but the classic garden fork is a small 3-tined hand tool.
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Carpal Tunnel
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when I say garden fork, I want to use the voice of Jim Backus and say, "oh lovey, would you pass me the garden fork..." 
formerly known as etaoin...
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I was reading a review
Was it a review of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time? When I read that book, I also glossed "garden fork" as "pitchfork".
In that book a small dog is killed with a "garden fork", and as I read I wondered what a garden fork was. The first thing I thought of was the smaller implement (which is apparently correct), but...
[!!!Warning, Spoilers for TCIotDitNT Ahead!!!]
later in the book, it is revealed that the dog is killed impulsively, in a moment of rage, and I figured that the character must have just grabbed the handle of a pitchfork and stabbed down with it. This seemed to me to be more likely than his grabbing a small hand tool, and bending down to intentionally stab the small dog.
It's a small point, but it actually affects my interpretation of the act and the character that did it. It seems somehow more evil to do the deed with a hand tool, at "point-blank range", as it were. Hmm.
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If I recall, the drawing on the cover of the book showed a dog-shape impaled on (with?) a pitchfork. And I agree that the instrument does somehow change the character of the act (or at least my impression of it).
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Carpal Tunnel
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In reply to:
Was it a review of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time? When I read that book, I also glossed "garden fork" as "pitchfork".
In that book a small dog is killed with a "garden fork", and as I read I wondered what a garden fork was. The first thing I thought of was the smaller implement (which is apparently correct), but...
Yes it was a review of "The Curious Incident ..." which I'd just finished reading. I visualised the garden fork as being about 4 feet long. The dog was a full-sized poodle so it wasn't really a small dog either. The idea of stabbing a toy poodle with a hand fork, which I assume is what you're describing, does sound much more deliberate rather than a momentary loss of control.
The relevant chapter can be seen on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1400032717/ref=sib_dp_pt/103-1316469-8571039#reader-page
Bingley
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The dog was a full-sized poodle
Oops, missed that, too. I guess when I see "poodle", I think "toy".
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Well, all my TV watching has finally paid off. In a Home and Garden show the expert helped the new home owner get all his basic gardening needs. One was a pitchfork : long slender tines for pitching hay or similar debris. The other was a garden fork : similar shape but heavier handle and shorter, thicker tines for plunging into earth to turn earth for flower beds. Tah Dah !!!
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